Small block Mopar thrust bearing problem

[Moparmike55]

I haven’t ever seen this before, but the crank looks to be pushed forward from the torque converter and is wearing down the thrust bearing. This is a cast crank 340; there is about a 1/8 to 3/16 gap unbolted between flex plate and converter. Spins freely, and moves back and forth easily. The forged crank 340 has no problem with same Trans and converter. Any ideas?? Thanks,
Mike

[rodentinfest]

I haven’t ever seen this before, but the crank looks to be pushed forward from the torque converter and is wearing down the thrust bearing. This is a cast crank 340; there is about a 1/8 to 3/16 gap unbolted between flex plate and converter. Spins freely, and moves back and forth easily. The forged crank 340 has no problem with same Trans and converter. Any ideas?? Thanks,
Mike
whenever the rear side of the trust is worn out, one of two things has happened, the torque converter is balloning, (most viable reason) and is putting pressure on the side of the unpressurized oiling surface, or, the tranny is being pushed forward from the drive shaft being in to far. this would most likely cause series internal damage the tranny though. Other than someone doing a dry install or something got into that area, that is the only reason engines do this. If you were a manual tranny guy, I would tell them to keep their foot of the clutch pedal!

[Moparmike55]

rodentinfest, Thanks for the reply. What causes the converter ballooning and how do I fix the problem. There is no internal trans problem. Thanks again.
Mike